THK TOWN OF YONKERS. 637 



did audience assembled at Trinity church. After prayers and a Latin 

 speech by the President, an elegant salutatory oration was delivered with 

 great propriety of pronunciation and gracefulness of action by Mr. Fred- 

 erick Philipse. The audience was then entertained with a discourse on 

 the happiness of connubial life, by Mr. Beverly Robinson, whose just ob- 

 servations on the subject did him much honor. Degrees were after this, 

 conferred on the following gentlemen : Beverly Robinson, Frederick 

 Philipse, Nathaniel Philipse, B. A. Philip Pell, and the Rev. Harry Munro, 

 M. A." ' 



Upon the arrival of the British forces in New York, Colonel Frederick 

 was arrested on some suspicions in the Manor Hall, at Yonkers, and 

 removed to Hartford, Connecticut, by the American anthorities. On this 

 occasion, his faithful colored valet, George Angevine, attended him 

 until his return to Philipsborough, which took place shortly afterwards. 

 Here Colonel Philipse was residing when the battle of White Plains was 

 fought. 



After the departure of the family from Yonkers, in 1777, John Wil- 

 liams, steward of the manor, took charge of the property till the confis- 

 cation, A. D. 1779. As before mentioned, at the close of the war, the 

 whole manor became forfeited. 



February t, 17 81, the following individuals were appointed Commis- 

 sioners for the southern district of New York : Stephen Ward, Mr. Law- 

 rence and Isaac Stoutenbergh. September 1785, those gentlemen con- 

 veyed the homestead and mills situated in Yonkers, amounting to 320 

 acres, to Cornelius P. Lowe j bounded west by Hudson river, on the north 

 by R. Johnson, &c, &c. May 12, 1786. Cornelius P. Lowe conveyed part 

 to William Constable. April 29, 1796, Wm. Constable and wife sold to 

 Jacob Stout. April 1, 1803, Jacob Stout conveyed it to Joseph How- 

 land. It was finally bought under a decree of Chancery by Lemuel 

 Wells, Esq., at whose death in 1842, the Mansion House with 300 

 acres, passed to his heirs at law, he dying intestate. The present pro- 

 prietor of the Manor House is his nephew, Lemuel W. Wells, Esq. The 

 Wells family are originally from Cambridgeshire, England, and descend 

 from Richard Wells, who held the manor of Wells at a very early period. 

 In the possession of the present Lemuel W. Wells, Esq , is a coat of 

 arms beautifully embroidered in silk needlework. These arms were 

 granted to the Cambridge Wells's, A. D. i6i4. a The present family 

 are more immediately descended from Samuel Wells, of Wethersfield, 

 Conn., who removed A. D. 1639, with his three sons — John, Thomas and 

 Samuel — to Milford, Conn. 6 This family gave a Governor to that State. 



a Berry's Encyclopedia of Arms. 

 b Trumbull's Conn., 105 



